22. Cash
CASH
His large form filled the doorway, still hidden in the shadows. Everything inside me calmed now that I finally had eyes on him again.
Though, I wouldn’t be surprised if he shot me.
I sort of had it coming.
“I’m surprised it’s you,” I said, letting him know I was well aware who he was even though I couldn’t see his face.
He finally stepped out of the shadows and grinned at me, that suave look cutting across his face just like always. “Why? Did you think I would be pissed that you shot me?” Kavanaugh asked.
“The thought crossed my mind.”
“You know, I spent weeks in a fucking glass room with everyone watching me day and night. I should return the favor.”
“I wouldn’t blame you,” I admitted. “But it was better than a bullet to the head.”
“I do appreciate that,” he chuckled. He closed the distance between us, pulling me in for a hug. “Figured you might try to kill me again. Have any knives on you now?”
I slapped his back, my breath hitching in my chest at the realization that he wasn’t angry at me. I felt like a fucking woman, about to start crying because my friends were here. It was fucking pathetic.
“No knives, but I do have FNG, so that’s something.”
“I should have brought my newest creation, boss. You would have loved it. Get this, a typical umbrella, but with knives that fire from it like a gun.”
I hated to ask, but someone had to. “Why not just use bullets? They move faster.”
“Yeah, but this is an umbrella that fires knives!” he laughed. “I mean, how ingenious is that? Who would suspect a thing?”
“Um…TSA?”
He frowned thoughtfully. “Right, well, it’s still being perfected.”
“So, why are we at a vineyard?” Kavanaugh asked.
“Ooh, because I used to work here,” FNG grinned. “Pretty spectacular, right?”
“Sure,” Kavanaugh grunted.
That immediately caused a problem, which for once, I didn’t mind hearing about.
“Is that a sure, like you think it’s really awesome? Or was that a sure like you think it’s pathetic?”
Kavanaugh sighed in frustration. “It’s just a sure.”
“Yeah, you say that, but how can I be sure? I mean, your voice pitched down.”
“My voice didn’t pitch at all. It was just a monotone sure!” Kavanaugh argued.
FNG scoffed, shaking his head at his teammate. “Monotone is even worse! It’s like you don’t even care!”
“Because I don’t fucking care!” Kavanaugh countered. “We have bigger things to worry about than whether or not you worked at a vineyard and whether or not that’s really fucking cool.”
“How can you say that? We’re in a foreign country. Literally in my old home, and you say you don’t care?”
“I don’t fucking care!” Kavanaugh shouted. “You know why?”
“Why? Tell me. I would loooove to know!” FNG said mockingly.
“Because I just flew overnight to get here. I’m tired as fuck.
I’m dirty, and I don’t have any clean clothes because the airline lost my bag.
I stepped in shit on the way out here, and in case you haven’t noticed, our boss is about to have his head chopped off by some elusive group of men who have it out for him.
So, there are just a few things more important than whether or not working at a vineyard was pretty fucking awesome! ”
He heaved in the darkness as FNG stood silently, studying him with great care. This wasn’t the sort of meeting one would hope for. In fact, it was exactly as I expected it would be. Fucked up and completely insane.
“I suppose you may have a point,” FNG finally said. “But I still think you could have put just a tad more enthusiasm in your voice.”
“I’ll keep that in mind for next time,” Kavanaugh snapped. “Now, where the fuck is Thumper?”
“Over here, asshole.” Thumper was leaning against the counter without a care in the world.
Kavanaugh jerked his chin at him, stalking over. “Got any liquor in here?”
“It’s a vineyard. What the fuck do you think?” Thumper asked. He shoved a mug in Kavanaugh’s direction before walking over to the table and taking a seat.
Kavanaugh slammed back the mug of coffee, grimacing as he swallowed. “That is not alcohol.”
“No shit. It’s the middle of the night. It’s coffee.”
“Terrible coffee,” Kavnaugh muttered.
“I made that coffee,” FNG grumbled.
“And it’s still fucking terrible. Now, what’s the plan?”
“Easy. I need to get out of the country.”
“Nope!” FNG grinned. “No can do. In order for you to get back to your life, we need to clear your name, which we can’t do from the good ol’ US of A. Nope, we need to run toward the problem.”
“There’s just one issue with that. Running toward the problem will literally put me in the middle of a fucking war,” I argued.
“Besides that, I have a whole bunch of terrible assholes hunting me down that would love nothing more than to wipe me out and anyone on my side. Which puts you in a pretty fucking dangerous position.”
“Yeah, but just a little danger,” FNG scoffed. “I mean, what are we talking here? A few baddies. Money-grubbing, power-hungry animals? I got that.”
“Worse. These are men without morals. They won’t fall easily, and they seem to know every fucking move I’m going to make.”
“Because they’ve been tracking all of us for years,” Kavanaugh said. “Lock called when I was on my way here. Apparently, the three J’s and Libby broke into one of their offices?—”
“Libby?” I cut him off. That wasn’t fucking good. The one decent thing that came out of all this was that Libby had walked away. She was no longer involved, and one less person was a hell of a lot of weight off my mind. Especially since they would target her since Rafe brought this all upon us.
“Yeah, she?—”
“Call Lock and tell him to get her the fuck out of there.”
“No can do,” he answered. “Lock isn’t at the home base of operations. He’s over here. Well, not over here , over here, but on this side of the planet.”
“Then who the fuck is with Eva?”
Kavanaugh winced, glancing down at his shoes. “Um…not sure you have to worry about Eva.”
Because she was gone. That’s what he was going to tell me.
She had left and taken our kids. Not that I could blame her.
It was actually better if she was gone—away from me and the disaster I brought upon them.
Still, it fucking hurt to think about ending this, only to go home and find no one there waiting for me.
“Anyway, the three J’s took off with Libby not long after. Something about finding some asshole.” He shrugged lightly. “There are a lot of assholes out there. It might take them a while.”
“They’ll protect her,” I said to myself. Libby was the last link I had to Rafe, and I would make sure she stayed safe, even if she didn’t want me to.
“So, as I was saying,” FNG cut into my thoughts, “we need to get on over to where you just escaped from and find this supposed evidence they have against you. We can’t prove you didn’t do it if we don’t have that rifle.”
“We would need a hell of a lot of help.”
“Well, you’re in luck,” Kavanaugh grinned. “Because I just happened to bring some of the craziest men in the world with me. Though I’m not sure you’re going to like who I chose.”
“Please tell me you didn’t bring IRIS,” Thumper sighed.
“Okay. I didn’t bring IRIS.”
“Seriously?”
“No, but that’s what you wanted to hear,” Kavanaugh chuckled. “So, when do we leave?”
“Three hours,” Thumper said. “I need some real coffee, and before we go anywhere, we need some weapons that don’t consist of knives hidden in umbrellas.”
Kavanaugh’s face morphed into a twisted grin. “Oh, I think we’ve got you covered.”